bpNichol reads The Martyrology, Book 1 (8 July 1983)

By bpNichol.

Audio recording of bpNichol reading The Martyrology, Book 1 at Simon Fraser English Department 8 July 1983. 

Recording Notes by Roy Miki

During the 1980s, whenever possible, I made arrangements for bp to visit SFU’s English Department to give reading and talks. My students in both undergraduate graduate courses always loved to hear him read from his most recent work. On one of these occasions, bp agreed to give an all-day reading of The Martyrology. It was a lovely warm day, July [8], 1983, when 25 or so people gathered in a seminar room to listen to bp. He read the whole day, except for a lunch break. I organized and recorded the event. Perhaps worth noting, two days before, on July 6, 1983, bp had participated in a panel discussion with Robin Blaser and Sharon Thesen on “Poetry and the Sacred.” bp’s contribution appeared in Tracing the Paths: Reading ≠ Writing The Martyrology, a collection I edited for co-publication by the journal line and Talonbooks. bp died only months after he attended the launch of this book in Vancouver in 1988.